The present invention relates to food thickener products prepared with starch, to foodstuffs prepared with such food thickener products and to processes for preparing such thickeners and foodstuffs.
It is already known to prepare a product with a creamy and smooth texture in which, modified starches are used, because they allow to obtain a heat and shear stable product. Modified starches are used in sensitive products like salad cream, mayonnaises and comparable products. The aim is to have such starches as a fat replacer. The drawback of such solution is that modified starches are not natural ingredients and they are too expensive, since the consumer more and more desires natural ingredients and less expensive products, a new solution has to be found. Native starches are not stable against heat and shear, so that their use is not possible in such processes. U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,877 deals with the interaction of amylose polymer and emulsifiers wherein formation of an amylose-emulsifier complex is obtained to get a strong gel. The amylose is dissolved from the granule and is then complexed outside the granule with the emulsifier. This reaction strengthens the amylose matrix, and a strong gel is obtained.